Yesterday was the International Day for Tolerance, and to mark the occasion, the Setara Institute research firm released the results of a study ranking which of Indonesia’s cities are the most and least religiously tolerant.
Setara Institute Director of Research Ismail Hasani said 94 cities were judged on how they promote values of tolerance and freedom for religion.
“This can be a trigger for other cities to follow suit in building and developing religious tolerance in their areas,” Ismail said, as quoted by Vivanews yesterday.
The study was conducted from August until October of this year.
Surprisingly, despite being some of Indonesia’s biggest metropolitan areas, Jakarta’s satellite cities fared very poorly in the study, as shown in this ranking of the 10 least tolerant cities in Indonesia:
1. Bogor
2. Bekasi
3. Banda Aceh
4. Tangerang
5. Depok
6. Bandung
7. Serang
8. Mataram
9. Sukabumi
10. Banjar and Tasikmalaya
Bogor topped the list, with the Setara Institute citing the closure of the GKI Yasmin church and the city’s tolerance for anti-Ahmadiyah sentiment as evidence of the city’s religious intolerance.
Bogor Mayor Bima Arya also told members of the city’s Shiite community not to celebrate the religious holiday of Asyura last month.
It’s also worth noting that 8 of the cities on this list are located either in West Java or Banten province. Banten, as we all know, was actually part of West Java until it separated as its own province in 2000.
On the positive side, the top 10 religiously tolerant cities in Indonesia are:
1. Pematang Siantar
2. Salatiga
3. Singkawang
4. Manado
5. Tual
6. Sibolga
7. Ambon
8. Sorong
9. Pontianak
10. Palangkaraya
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